Gandalf rides to aid of beleaguered Hobbit

When Frodo Baggins and his pals saved Middle Earth from being conquered by the Dark Lord Sauron, the plight of an English pub was almost certainly not on their radar. Now a Southampton hostelry named ‘The Hobbit’ has become the target of legal action by the owners to the rights of many of JRR Tolkien’s works, US film firm Saul Zaentz Company (SZC). While SZC’s actions may not be as severe as those of the Dark Lord, they still prompted action from Gandalf himself, in the shape of Sir Ian McKellen, and serial Twitterer Stephen Fry. The pair stepped in to save the day (and pay a £63 copyright licence fee). Sarah Birkbeck, a partner at London firm Thomas Eggar, thinks the film company’s stance may backfire. She said: ‘If a blanket approach is taken and attracts adverse publicity, the action can seem rather self-depreciating.’

Master of Rolls unimpressed by master of chefs

England’s Master of the Rolls has urged judges to show more restraint when appearing in public and addressing current controversies, reports Londonbased newspaper The Law Gazette.
Lord Neuberger pointed to the words of the UK’s then Lord Chancellor, Lord Kilmuir, in 1955, who said judges must keep silent to ensure their ‘reputation for wisdom and impartiality remains unassailable’.
The appearance of Lord Justice Stanley Burton on an episode of MasterChef clearly pushed Lord Neuberger over the edge. ‘I can only imagine the horror with which Lord Kilmuir… would have viewed several members of the Supreme Court discussing their role, approach to work, home life and recreations on television,’ said the Master of the Rolls. ‘As for their reaction to my colleague, Lord Justice Stanley Burton, appearing as an amateur on last week’s episode of MasterChef, the mind boggles.’

Support teams for oldest profession

Ontario’s highest court has swept the country’s anti-prostitution laws away and ruled that a ban on brothels is unconstitutional as it put prostitutes at risk, reports The Guardian newspaper in the UK.

The case, which could result in a new federal precedent set in Canada, saw the Ontario Court of Appeal rule that prostitutes should be able to work safely indoors, giving the government a year to rewrite the law if it choses to.
According to the Montreal Times, the landmark ruling essentially means that, while openly soliciting customers on the street remains illegal, prostitutes will be able to hire drivers, bodyguards and other types of support staff (personal shoppers spring to mind). Exploitation by pimps, however, remains illegal.

Soccer mom madam

One woman alleged to be involved in the oldest profession has recently been hiring and firing her own legal support team. Forty-four-year-old Anna Gristina from Kirkingston, near Edinburgh, is reported to be on the verge of cutting a pleabargain deal with prosecutors over her alleged running of a sophisticated prostitution ring in Manhattan, according to The Times newspaper.
The so-called ‘soccer mom madam’, is accused of running the multi-million dollar enterprise, assisted by corrupt police officers. Ms Gristina, who has spent more than three weeks in Rikers Island gaol, New York, is now being represented by her third lawyer since seeing her bail set at $1 million in cash.
Her first, state-appointed attorney – who defined her as a woman of modest means – was joined by Peter Gleason, who adequately stated: ‘It’s going to take a very special lawyer to handle this matter.’
Unfortunately for Mr Gleason, he was not that ‘special lawyer’ and he was removed from the case. That cleared the path for lawyer number three, Gary Greenwald, who has pledged to meet the district attorney to ‘resolve the matter’.

Pomp and circumstance

English barristers have a well earned – and, some would suggest, well nurtured – reputation for pomposity. So it is with great irony that we relate the story of David
Evans, an Englishman who has just been gaoled for posing as a barrister. His convincing sham was finally rumbled by the judge, according to The Guardian newspaper, because he had a ‘grandiose sense of self-importance’. Evans – who in the past few days has been handed an 18-month custodial sentence – posed as counsel in the drugsrelated trial of a friend. He is reported to have lounged around the advocates’ changing room before appearing in court fully kitted out in gown and wig.
The judge claims to have become suspicious when he noticed Evans was wearing a solicitor’s gown with a barrister’s wig (a detail that is important to Crown Court judges) and that his legal submissions were ‘hopelessly wrong’.
The suggestion that Evans’ self-important behaviour also gave him away may cause concern. If proper barristers are prevented from having certain airs and graces, some might suggest they have little else left in their professional lives.

Putting a gloss on Pakistan’s image

Muhammad Khurshid Khan takes religion and penance seriously. Pakistan’s deputy attorney general recently spent several days cleaning the shoes of devotees at temples in his own country and in neighbouring India as a penance for the 2010 murder of a Sikh man in Pakistan by Taliban terrorists.
Mr Khan explained his position to The Daily Telegraph as he sat polishing shoes in front of the Golden Temple in Amristar: ‘I am a Muslim, not a terrorist; I am a Khan, not a terrorist; I am from Pakistan, but not a terrorist.’ He went on to maintain that the Taliban had damaged his country’s ‘pluralistic’ heritage and that it was unfair ‘to tarnish a whole community for the sins of a few’.